WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney sailed into Wisconsin ahead of the state’s primary next week, picking up a key endorsement from Congressman Paul Ryan, a rising Republican star in the Badger State.
Sitting atop a 7-point lead in the latest poll out of Wisconsin yesterday, the endorsement from Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, was an important boost with the state’s conservative voters.
“I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, principles, the courage and integrity to do what it takes to get America on track,” Ryan said on Fox News Channel.
He joined the growing chorus of Republicans calling for a quick end to the primary battle now that Romney has an almost insurmountable lead in the race for 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Romney’s 568 delegates are more than double Santorum’s 273.
“It’s been constructive, up ’til now,” Ryan said of the race. “We’re entering a phase where it’s counterproductive if it drags on much longer. We need to coalesce around Mitt Romney and focus on the task, which is defeating Barack Obama.”
Santorum responded by saying he wasn’t concerned about endorsements from the Republican establishment because he would get the “endorsements of the people”
“We’re just continuing to work hard,” Santorum told reporters while campaigning in Hudson, Wis. “We’re getting the endorsements of the people out here across Wisconsin. That’s what we’re excited about.”
But Gingrich admitted on a WTMJ radio interview in Wisconsin that Romney is “clearly the front-runner [and] will probably” amass the necessary 1,144 delegates.
Gingrich, who has won just two states, nevertheless still refused to drop out of the race. He has insisted he can still emerge as the nominee out of a brokered party convention in Tampa, Fla., in August.
Romney, who is targeting Santorum with his usual bombardment of TV attack ads, led the former US senator from Pennsylvania 40-33 percent among Wisconsin Republican voters, an NBC News/Marist poll released yesterday found.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul got 11 percent and Gingrich had 8 percent.
Santorum enjoyed a double-digit lead in Wisconsin polls as recently as February.
But Romney and his allies poured about $2.7 million into the Wisconsin ad war, outspending Santorum 4-to-1.
Romney is favored to win Tuesday’s other primaries in Maryland and DC, as well as most of the next round of contests April 24, including New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.
In Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania, which also holds a primary on April 24, Romney was trailing Santorum by just 2 percentage points in a poll out earlier this week.
Mitt Romney enjoys a solid lead heading into Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary, an NBC News/Marist poll found:
Mitt Romney 40%
Rick Santorum 33%
Ron Paul 11%
Newt Gingrich 8%
The delegate tally so far:
Romney 568
Santorum 273
Gingrich 135
Paul 50
Needed to win the nomination: 1,144